Bleach 542 brought a new beginning to Ichigo’s line, as Ichigo got a new look! Ichigo obtained a new sword! Not just one but in fact two new zanpakuto’s! Ichigo’s New Look is awesome, as the above image shows. Ichigo now holds two swords, both for his two Zangetsu’s as we know them. Hollow Ichigo and Juha Bach are now referred to as Zangetsu!

The small sword I think is manifested from Juha Bach, Ichigo’s Quincy powers, my reason for this is that Quincy weapons are usually well defined and smooth in texture, they don’t seem to have random curves, however when Juha Bach materialised a sword within Bleach 541, it was a somewhat the same size sword in flames as the one in Ichigo’s right hand. It’s hard to tell.

The larger sword in Ichigo’s right hand is a lot bigger, it’s very similar to Ichigo’s previous Shikai sword, it was large and bulky. Plus Juha Bach never gave Ichigo any of his Quincy powers, except for certain events, so would that mean the large sword was Hollow Ichigo’s (Real Zangetsu) and that it relates to the larger on the right, I seem to think so.

I like what Kubo Tite has done now, he showed a new sword during Bleach 541, however now he mind blows me with two swords. If I remember correctly, Bleach hasn’t had a Shinigami with two Zanpakuto’s as their Bankai, except for Shunsui and Jushiro with their Shikai. If i’m correct, this is now Ichigo’s Bankai as previously it was his Bankai that was broken, so I’m guessing Nimaiya’s fixing his Bankai, unfortunately he wasn’t able to, Ichigo fixed it himself.

Furthermore the reason I think why Ichigo is keeping the idea that Juha Bach is not someone else and only Zangetsu because he doesn’t want someone he trusts to change, he’s had a number of his friends put themselves on the line for Ichigo’s survival, even after getting to Soul Society to fight Juha Bach, he sensed that he was summoned, he doesn’t want someone who lives and helps him such as Juha Bach to be someone who killed a number of his comrades, he cannot handle this fact, that is why I think that Ichigo is unable to comprehend, he just wants to stay sane, it seems that to this point, he doesn’t fully understand what has just been told to him by Nimaiya and Juha Bach.

One question I’m asking myself at this point is, where is Hollow Ichigo? If Juha Bach still exists within Ichigo, where the hell is he? The explanation in which I’m currently thinking off is that the Asauchi he picked was Hollow Ichigo himself, when Nimaiya was trying to reforge Ichigo’s bankai, Nimaiya was repairing Ichigo’s Hollow Ichigo side, Nimaiya had to trigger Ichigo’s Quincy side to also upgrade so Ichigo’s reforged sword would be perfect. Once he did this, Ichigo’s sword wasn’t just one but in fact two different swords, both named Zangetsu! One being Juha Bach and the other Hollow Ichigo! This is why Ichigo obtained two different zanpakuto’s.

To add, I don’t think Juha Bach within the Quincy Empire knows what is currently happening in Ichigo’s head, he might have an idea that Ichigo’s changing but his ideas and thoughts may not be fully clear, that is until he finds out or they fight once more. However my mind now knows that since Juha Bach’s blood is in everyone, it’s most likely that he may know, it’s fully possible thought Juha Bach may have other things to talk about regarding the war, lets see what he has to say in next week’s Bleach 543 chapter.

So what do you think of my thoughts? Would you argue against me or are you following my thoughts? If not, then just tells me what you think! Use the comment section below.

You could be right, I also think the same, however Juha Bach could be talking about something else here, a plan of some sort. Or maybe just mentioning to everyone that no one must fight Ichigo, he and Juha will be the only ones to fight.

I like what you said and I agree but im not so sure Juha Bach is in his head. I am interested to see if this is his bankai or just his Shikai. I am not enjoying how short these issues are and i wish it would mention some other popular characters, who seem to be waiting in the wings for some spotlight time but then at the same time not to focus on them completely, we forget what else is happening.

Hmm I agreed that this manga chapter flew by me, once I was completed with it, I thought it went very quick, just pages with a lot of actions instead of any real dialog. I’m somewhat baffled if it’s his Shikai or Bankai, however I think it’s more of his Bankai than Shikai, as it was his Bankai that was broken, and when he repaired it, it was his Bankai that was repaired, if you see my line of thought.

I would say its his shikai because ichigos bankai always has the enveloping thing that was brought up in the previous arc, and ichigos clothes haven’t changed, just that from the force of everything his sleeves got blown off

It’s shikai, not because of the fact that he hasn’t got his coat, but rather because this is Kubo’s manga we’re talking about. Is he really going to pass off a moment later on when Ichigo is yet again about to be defeated and then suddenly he’s going to be like “BanKAI!” and all hell breaks loose? The more melodrama, the more likely that plotline is going to be taken. Therefore, this is shikai.

Rook you are absolutely right! I didn’t see that till i looked again. Also thinking about it Kubo is not going to show his full hand until the right time. His bankai is another thing we can gasp about when we see it and another thing we can blog/read blogs about.

Problem is, he didn’t get his bankai fixed, this is a whole new zanpakuto. Who can say what form this is, since he hasn’t done any release with them yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if the overall abilities will change as well. Be prepared for the possibility of no more getsuga tenshou.

Since Ichigo’s Quicy abilities have been opened its correct to say that we’ll see him battle with all of his powers including Hollow, Shinigami, Human and Quincy. The sword idea also begs the question to how Ichigo will fight as he’s never used two blades before.

first of all a huge thanks to tite kubo (long live tite kubo) …. my heart beat faster every time i tead the new manga episodes… bleach is my no 1…..
Ichigo san new zanpaktou is spectacular!!! but i think there’s more to it… since his quincy power is triggered maybe it will act as bow-arrow weapon, coz i remember ishida saying “quincy only uses bows as weapons”…

(finally: its about me…. i hope i live longer… coz everytime i see a bleach new chapter, my heart beat rises so much, that i feel like unable to breath for seconds.)

All raise their crosses for Kubo!! Agreed it is an amazing zanpakuto, I think Ichigo is an hybrid, he could possibly learn to throw the smaller sword towards the enemy, and some kind of system to pull it back or something similar… Quincy also use swords, btw. Loool, dw you’ll get to a point where you’re heart will keep beating very quickly, until you have to wait for next week :P

Quincys do not use swords Sunite. The thing that you are probably thinking of is the sword like thing that Uryu used a few times. While he used it like a sword, it was actually an arrow that continuously collects the reitasu arund it and condenses it into like a super arrow. He ventually puts it in his bow and shows that it’s actually meant to be fired.

I Also think this is ichigo’s shikia cz th sword broke while he was in his bankai mode and they said(Myuri & Osu) there is no way to fix a broken bankai bt t was reforged usin Ouetsu’s Reijutsu which used ichigo’s asuchi and hs soul to forge ichigo’s Zangetsu’s n zangetsu was alsl stated to b A full time release due to ichigo immense riatsu n dnt see dat changin nw his usin his full power

Hmm those 2 swords are interesting i wonder how he will use them i mean all this time he was fighting with 1 and has no experience on 2 sword style…it would be weird if he sudenly became expert with 2 swords…and yes i believe this is his shikai too…to me this chapter feel like bleach started from the begining..

I personally think it would be quite cool if Kyoraku would in the final stages of training ichigo in the double sword, presuming that this will happen not saying that it will but if it does, use his bankai and finally let us see what Kyoraku’s bankai is XD

Hello ! Sorry if you don’t understand my message because I’m not really good in English. I’m French, that’s why… -_-‘ It’s about the Hollow Ichigo. I think he’s in a Ichigo’s zangetsu and Zangestu in the other Ichigo’s zangetsu because Ichigo says that the Hollow Ichigo and Zangetsu are him, and they are Zangetsu.
Besides, he can use this two Zangetsu when he wants. In my opinion, he says that it’s not a problem that is to say thanks to two zangetsu, the Hollow Ichigo don’t need to take Zangetsu’s place and the contrary is the same. That’s I understand when I read this chapter.
I really want to see the Hollow Ichigo because he’s my favourite character (and Ichigo too).

I personally agree that the right and larger Zangetsu might be the Hollow one, and the left on might be the Juha Bach/Quincy one. My main reason is a simple one, and that is that on page 13, it shows Hollow Ichigo on Ichigo’s right side and Old Man Zangetsu on the left.

Well lets remember that we don’t know what the physical manifestation of his zanpakuto looks like. “old man zangetsu” is juba. the leader of the quincys from 1000 years ago. so either his hollow is his zanpakuto or we haven’t seen it yet.

I think what he meant by that is that Shinigami and Zanpakutou are one. At the beginning of the Asauchi challenge Ouetsu said that a Zanpakutou is neither a subordinate nor a partner and wanted Ichigo and Renji to find out what the relation is. Because Ichigo was unable to understand it at first he failed the challenge and now when he realised the truth he was able to reforge Zangetsu. So it doesn’t mean he won’t be using the hollows power, it means this power is actually his own.

my spelling is realy bad and im sorry but no need to say what i know….

i have a few defrent thoughts…

now that Ichigo has 2 blades now, kyoraku and Ukitake where the only 2 known to have twin blades dose that make them to more like ichigo and make it to where hes not the only hight bread… but then agen like i said they both have TWIN blades and ichigos are defrent from eachother…

next thought is in ichigos bankai the zanpakuto (old one) it droped size and power to make up in speed… the drop in lbs also alows ichigo to use one hand where hes use to useing both… i fill this will alowe him to be more profshent with and main hand and an off hand…. now im not saying a master at both just eazer to change from one to the other…

and i personly belive this isnt his bankai seen that they made him a whole new zanpakuto and i belive the rashie blast repazents the quincy powers kicking in and turnning the surounding rashie into his own…

in order to train with his new zanpakuto i thank him and Ririn are going to train with both there new zanpakuto’s till the point they both master there bankai’s and i belive that ichigos bankai will be white seen all but his 1st sword was always black

and on a personal note i hope that ichigo’s bankai will be a duble sided sword (like the bad guy that could ark time)

If Ukitake and Kyoraku do train with Ichigo, it’s most likely that they’ll teach him how to fight with two swords. I’m starting to think that this oculd be Ichigo’s Shikai, and not Bankai, so it’s mostly possible that he’ll have a two sword bankai too. I too think that it’ll be double sided sword…

There is one thing that confuses me, at the end when Yhwach came he was greeted by a group of soldiers and he called them Stern Ritters, but that’s whats odd, not one of those soldiers bear any resembles to the Stern Ritters who invaded the Soul Society.

Interesting, Kubo is trying to change up Ichigo’s way of battling, if he can change from very close range to close or mid, or even long if he does get a bow then that will certainly be something good to see

If u look on page 12 The Bottom end of it looks like it can extend into a bow to use to fire Getsuga tenshous etc. or quincy arrows. So i believe his right arm will be used for Attack and defense at close range and his left arm will be used to fire long ranged attacks

Hey guys, I don’t think this is Shikai or Bankai. I think this is his sealed state, just because he didn’t ‘activate’ the swords with their names yet. Also, is anyone a tad bit uneasy about the fact that one of his swords is Juha Bach and he’s gonna go up against Juha Bach? I wonder if Old Man Zangetsu is more loyal to Ichigo than to the person he represents/ is a piece of. Or maybe Juha Bach will just take him too. Either way, I can’t wait to see what hollow Ichigo can do – I’d love to see more of the type of action from when he killed Ulquiorra. If you think back to that chapter and compare him to White, he basically looks like white except with hands and an actual white exterior. I’m dead certain that White was transferred to Ichigo from his mom when he was born, that White was Ichigo’s Asauchi, that White’s absorption of Ichigo’s essence (which was similar to Isshin’s essence) caused him to take on powers like those of Engetsu, and that White is Hollow Ichigo. Also, the fact that White bit Ichigo’s mom is why he’s a Fullbringer. Basically, because of that event, Ichigo is a combination of every major character race in Bleach (Quincy, Shinigami, Human, Hollow, Fullbringer). And now he’s gonna be more badass, because he’ll know how to do Quincy stuff.

kyoraku and and ukitake are the only 2 we know so far that has 2 swords, but who knows……. the next course for ichigo is probably training with his new zangetsus….. one of the zero division members might also have duel swords.

I believe that the two blade are is shinkai, because in a manga you never show the real power until the end of a real battle. And I was thinking you know that ichigo has a hollow form the white one and it be a long time since he changed into it so if ichigo change into it maybe he will have a new transformation, because is asauchi said before every time you became stronger, I became stronger too and each time he became stronger he got a new mask, what will it be this time. And do you remember quincy got a form like a bankai like in the chapter when ichigo fight the sternriter name j so maybe ichigo can I have one to and finally because ichigo is a hybrid maybe he got a fusion form of the combination of his bankai, hollow form, fullbringer and I say maybe quicy form what do you think ?

Yeah I agree with everything you said:P However, Ichigo is not a Shinigami, he’s not a Quincy, he’s not a human nor a Hollow. In fact he’s a hybrid of all of these which creates a different form alltogether. He may be able to use some of the basic abilities from each form, but he has the ability to create his own abilities by just mixing his power! This will therefore create something even more powerful. And yeah, Fullbring too :P I hope he gets an amazing new form or something similar. Also is it possible to say that Jushiro and Ukitaka are the same as Ichigo? As in they’re secretly also hybrids? It’s stupid to think so but could it be possible?

i believe this is his shikai. Also i thought that his orginal shikai was the quincy Juha Bach was the one which ichigo originally draws his powers since he goverened the out put of ichigos locked shinigami powers which were being repressed by the presence of Juha Bach but the shape of the sword was formed by his true zanpakto (hollow ichigo) so when ichigo learns of old man zangetsus true persona he longs for his old partner and this puts him through emotional turmoil (as shown in the manga) so when he forges or reforges zangetsu he forges the new smaller sword for the Juha Bach aspect to inherit and his formerly imprisoned zangetsu takes over the bigger sword which greatly resembles the original zangetsu which broke. i also think that ichigo will have diffrent powers for each zanpakto since they represent the diffrent attributes of himself.

Guys one thing i still dont understand is that of his Zankpaktou….i dnt even think its name is Zangetsu even if he called it “Those Zangestus” Reason is because the Spirit Released after the Flames Sword is shown is a Female Spirit and she’s angry that Ichigo doesnt know her name…that she has been wit ichigo since he was a baby…and dat Juha Bach is Hiding from her…at this point for someone such as her to make Juha Bach Afraid nw dats a scary thought…..so could it be Hollow Ichigo da Zangestu is Her or is she yet an unnamed spirit and judging from how powerful Ichigo’s Dad’s Zanpaktou is Engestu wich was touted to be da 2nd Hottest Blade after Genryuusai and also how Hot Ichigo’s Sword is…..it Dried up an Entire ocean….. Can we say the Swords are Zangetsu? Because lest we Forget….it was Juha Bach dat has taught Ichigo Everytin he knows from Getsuga Tenshou to Tensa Zangestu to Bankai so i guess dis new spirit may teach him new moves and da only two female spirit Wielders i know are Urahara’s Benhime and Kyoraku’s Zanpaktou….i do hope i made Sense so in Conclusion im tryin to find out if we can guess….

I) The Identity of this Female Angry Spirit and her name that Ichigo Forgot

Too bad bleach gets interesting after the anime was cancelled. But I honestly think they make Ichigo way too strong way too fast, this is a prime example. Ichigo undergoes such a small trial but the end result always immense power. Great anime but extremely unrealistic. How can ichigo have beaten zaraki with just a single zangetsu??? Cmon tite kubo, so fake.

That comment is ridiculous.. you say ichigo gets to much power with to little trial and yet you don’t comment on how powerful zaraki is naturally.. keep in mind this “power up” is a release in the same way zarakis was.. ichigo was being held back.
ichigo has undergone more battles than most shinigami will in their lifetimes and he is 1/10 their ages.

As most people mentioned here I also think that this is his shikai not bankai. Simply because he never say’s the word bankai.

Also I don’t think his shikai is a duel sword, but instead its two separate zanpaktou.
Which i’m guessing his bankai will either only incorporate the shinigami sword, or somehow each have a seperate bankai.

The one thing I am sure about this is that he is not a double wielder shikai Like the two double wielding Captains. Because their swords are identical. His swords are different leaning more to the argument that he know is the only shinigami with two zanpaktou and possibly two separate bankais.

I actually like the double Zanpakuto theory. If you think about it, it makes sence. One Zanpakuto is his inner hollow, and the other is “Zangestu.” It only makes sence that they would be separate Zanpakutos.

No it’s his shikai.. just look at his markings, also ichigo reverted from shinigami to human and then shinigami again before seeing oetsu again so there is no reason to think this is his bankai
in fact id say theres no chance it isn’t his shikai

I didn’t take the time to read through the comments to see if this was responded to but like the first person said his blood is in all quincys. They stated in the manga he was King of the quincys just like the soul reapers have a king. And all quicnyes derive their power from him….so that statement is incorrect.

I don’t read the manga but from what I’ve seen read and came up with is that the inner hollow is the real Zangetsu that’s why every time ichigo was in a pinch he trained ichigo and the old man is ichigo’s quincy’s power which came from his mom and i also think the reason that Zangetsu reassembles a hollow is because of what happened with his mom during the time she met ichigo’s dad.Its obvious that the small sword is his quincy powers and the bigger one is the real zangetsu and i also saw that ichigo had a new look.I think the primary color of his clothing is properly white with some black because when his quincy powers were like his main power or w.e all of his transformatios were back clothing which is the quincy power’s primary clothing power to so since ichigo knows that the inner hollow is the real Zangetsu his clothing might be black.Which by not be true but i think black clothing suits ichigo more.But guys just image all this time the quincy power within ichigo has been suppressing his true potential well when he fought aizen might be an exception so just take in how strong and amazing his gonna get with his true fall powers quincy,soul reapper and holow.Jhezz

Wait a second!!! Why is everyone saying that his bankai was broken and that the two new swords are his bankai. That really isn’t his real bankai. Theirs a couple of soul reapers that even said his bankai was fake. The manifestation of Juha Bach said that his soul reaper powers where being surpressed, and that he was using the powers of hollow ichigo. And at one point used the powers of the manifested juha bach. But hopefully, Tite Kubo Makes ichigo bankai epic but not too overpowering and I would also like to some new powers from ichigo or even previously used powers like Final Getsuga Tensho, Vasto Lord, and etc. ALSO TO BRING BACK THE ANIME, IMMEDIATLY!!!

Ichigo’s new zanpaktou is his shikai form. Remember, all zanpaktous look like katanas (regular swords) before they transform into shikai form. In previous comments, some have stated that The Real Zangetsu is hollow Ichigo (White Ichigo), This is absolutely True. “Old Man Zangetsu/Juha Bach” said himself, he only lied about his name being Zangetsu. He also said, he didn’t want to Ichigo to become a shinigami or else he’d have to kill him (Bleach Chapter 541). “Old Man Zangetsu/Juha Bach” is the source of Ichigo’s Quincy power. It’s going to be nice to see what his new powers will be like.

You know what would be so OP right now? If because he is a perfect hybrid he becomes a transcendent again and his bankai becomes a slightly nerfed FGT.

If not, I think his new bankai ( this is obviously shikai) will be a combo of the predecessing bankais. If you look close, his cleaver resembles the original shikai and the small knife in the other hand is a trench knife. The fullbring shikai was an oversized trench knife. Maybe his bankai will have his right blade become a larger version of the original bankai and his left blade becoming a smaller version of his second bankai. Or vice versa. With his left blade representing his Quincy heritage, it would take the form of the original bankai, when Ichigo’s power had the least amount of Shinigami or Hollow influence, being far more attuned his Quincy power. His right, which represents his Hollow and Shinigami powers, would take the form of his second bankai, when Ichigo’s power was far more heavily influenced by Hollow and Shinigami reiatsu, being a fusion of his fullbring and the power granted to him by the Gotei 13 as a reward for his defeat of Aizen.

Also, on that topic, he still has that reiatsu right? The reiatsu from the energy blade charged with the power of all 13 captains. What if, using his reishi control from his Quincy abilities, or his ‘ soul manipulation’ from his fullbring, he drew on the reiatsu of the captains, temporarily granting him their abilities, at some cost to him? Food for thought because, Juha Bach gains power from every dead Quincy thanks to his soul implants, surely Ichigo needs something to balance that bullshit power-up.